![]() Ignition capsules also go through a process similar to that used in Lasik eye surgery to remove tiny mounds, or “pimples,” on the capsule shell. ![]() So that was a big bottleneck that was solved.” With the robotic system they can do up to 120 with the robot running overnight. “By simplifying the procedure, GA got it up to about 20 per day with a trained operator. “That’s a process that an operator could do maybe six to eight times a day a number of years ago,” Nikroo said. GA uses phase-shifting diffraction interferometer (PSDI) technology to make digital 3-D holographic images that allow “spheremapping” the exterior surface features of target capsules with nanometer (billionths of a meter)-scale precision. Nikroo said GA engineer Lane Carlson has led the automation of a number of assembly and other processes to speed the fabrication of capsules and other target components. “When applied judiciously, bringing robotics into the picture can be very beneficial,” said NIF Target Fabrication program manager Abbas Nikroo, who joined LLNL last month after leading the target fabrication effort at GA for the last six years. Shown with the ATPS during commissioning are (left to right) Steve Andrews, lead product development technician Rob Acree, production support Albert Wang, lead engineer and Rizalde Marquez, target proofing operator. “We’re still running it through its paces and commissioning it, but when that comes on-line it should save us an additional eight hours per target, a more than 10 percent savings-or another 40 targets.” Now being commissioned, the auto target proofing station (ATPS) will automatically perform ambient and cryogenic temperature leak tests and electrical conductivity tests on fabricated targets and should reduce the time to perform these tests by one day, or about 10 percent of the total time to fabricate and test a new target. “But the biggest thing is (a new) automatic proofing station” used to test cryogenically layered deuterium-tritium and tritium-hydrogen-deuterium targets before sending them to NIF. “The hohlraum insertion also saves us about four hours a target.” Hamza said. Maybe five percent doesn’t sound like much, but when you’re talking 400 targets (a year), that’s another 20 targets, which is another 20 shots. “It takes us (an average of) 70 hours to build a target, so that’s about a five percent savings. “The tent robot saves us about four hours a target,” said NIF target development and fabrication manager Alex Hamza. ![]() The robot has improved the consistency and quality of the targets and reduced technician training time for applying tents from three months for manual application to two weeks. Robot Tenting Machine (RTM) operator Cres Alday observes as the RTM applies tents to NIF targets in the Bldg. The team also has been using a precision robotic assembly machine to automate the assembly of NIF hohlraums since experiments began in 2009. Fabricating targets for NIF is a multi-faceted process requiring constant adjustments to meet the changing demands of experimenters and to deal with new engineering and material science issues that have a way of cropping up unexpectedly.Īnnual production of targets is predicted to grow from 380 now to 480 by the end of Fiscal Year 2016.Īnd despite the challenges involved in designing, manufacturing, and testing a constant stream of tiny, custom-made, precision-engineered targets, the NIF & Photon Science Target Fabrication Team, in partnership with colleagues at General Atomics (GA) in San Diego, has been able to keep up with NIF’s steadily increasing shot rate (see “NIF Lasers Continue to Fire at a Record Rate”) through several efficiency improvements of its own.įollowing the example of the automobile industry and many other mass-production facilities, the LLNL Target Fab team is turning to robotics to automate such time-consuming processes as installing the ultrathin membranes called “tents” that suspend target capsules inside NIF hohlraums, and mounting the hohlraums in the cryogenic target positioners that hold them in the center of the Target Chamber. That might seem obvious, but it’s far from routine. Target Fabrication Steps Up to the ChallengesĮvery NIF experiment needs a target. Electronic Checklists Keep NIF Running Smoothly
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